1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to shredded tobacco leaf pellets, a production process thereof and cigarette-like snuffs using one or more of the pellets, and more specifically has as a primary object the provision of cigarette-like snuffs which do not give unpleasant feeling or adverse influence such as smoke, offensive odor and/or ash to those around its inhaler and moreover does not substantially impair the health of its inhaler himself.
The term "shredded tobacco leaf pellet" as used herein means a pellet of tobacco leaf shreds. The word "pellet" should be interpreted in a broad sense so that the shredded tobacco leaf pellet may not be limited to any particular shape. Similarly, the term "shred" as used herein should not be interpreted to imply any particular shape or size for shredded tobacco leaves. Tobacco leaf shreds may hence be of any shape and any size so long as they can fulfill the above and other objects of this invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Tobacco has been consumed in great quantity for many years. It is however accompanied by a problem that its smoke, odor, ash and the like give unpleasant feeling to nearby non-smokers. Tobacco is also a potential fire hazard because it always requires lighting. A further problem has come to the surface that the health of smokers is adversely affected by inhalation of carbon monoxide and tar which occur upon combustion of tobacco leaves.
As a method for overcoming the above-mentioned problems of tobacco and still drawing satisfaction from habitual or regular smokers, peppermint pipes and the like have conventionally been known as one kind of snuffs. These peppermint pipes and the like however do not contain various inherent and essential components of tobacco--led by nicotine--and cannot hence give feeling of smoking. For these reasons, they have not been accepted widely.
On the other hand, substitute cigarettes (for example, "Flavor", trade name for substitute cigarettes produced in U.S.A.) have also been known. They are produced by extracting and purifying nicotine which is a principal component of tobacco, causing a suitable carrier to bear nicotine and then inserting and holding it in a cigarette-shaped hollow cylinder, so that nicotine can be inhaled little by little upon inhalation. Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,284,089; 4,393,884; 2,860,638; 3,280,823; 3,584,630; and 4,083,372; and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 254170/1986 and 271775/1986.
The above substitute cigarettes do not require lighting and do not give off any smoke. They have hence solved most of the problems of conventional cigarettes, while still giving feeling of smoking very close to conventional cigarettes. They are however insufficient in other trace components, aroma and the like of tobacco. They have hence not been able to substitute fully for conventional cigarettes.
With a view toward solving such problems as mentioned above, it has been attempted to develop a cigarette-like snuff by having nicotine contained in natural tobacco leaf shreds, forming the nicotine-containing shreds into a small cylindrical shape with a binder, and then holding the thus-formed shreds in a cigarette-shaped cylinder so that nicotine may be inhaled along with inherent trace components and aroma of cigarette to give feeling of smoking (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 185361/1988 published Jul. 30, 1988--corresponding to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/080,919 of Aug. 3, 1987, both, assigned commonly to the present applicants).
Cigarettes require mass production. The above-proposed technique requires a solvent and/or water upon binding of tobacco shreds with the binder. As a result, a drying step is needed, thereby raising problems such as quality modifications of tobacco leaf shreds and evaporation of nicotine and flavorings. The above proposed technique therefore does not permit mass production.
As a solventless process, there is a process in which a two-pack polyurethane resin is used. It is however difficult to control the reaction in this process, so that mass production is infeasible. In addition, the resulting pellets do not have sufficient air permeability.
As the most serious drawback common to the various conventional techniques described above, the nicotine contained in tobacco leaf shreds is absorbed quickly into the binder of the shredded tobacco leaf pellets so that the release of nicotine lasts in a short time. Accordingly, there is a substantial difference between the amount of nicotine released immediately after the production and that after the passage of time. Nicotine cannot therefore be released stably, leading to the drawback that they cannot be stored for an extended period of time. It is hence difficult to practice these conventional techniques.
It has hence been desired to develop a technique capable of providing, through mass production, cigarette-like snuffs which do not require lighting, form neither smoke nor ash, assure smooth release of nicotine even after stored over a long period of time, and can give stimulative or sedative effects similar to conventional tobacco or cigarettes.